This purpose of the CCCC network and it's components is to facilitate and assist in the Church’s mission of outreach and congregational support (evangelism and discipleship).

This collection of pages are the documentation regarding the computer network owned/subscribed and operated by the Capital City Christian Church, Frankfort KY, referred to as CCCC or CapCity.

The purpose of this information is to document the relevant information used for managing the network's components, and relevant information that will help CCCC staff to manage, troubleshoot, and operate these resources.

Unfortunately, documentation cannot give you quick fixes to most problems, especially urgent problems.

Software of all types changes very quickly which makes maintaining documentation problematic. You just cannot address each task so that a none technician could follow those instructions and accomplish the goal. For example, as of 10.01.23 we are running 3 types of tablet for the kiosks. Each type is running Windows 11. However, each must be managed according to which group it is in. The Windows Control Panel, Print Manager, Start link, along with many other screens, are completely different for each. To document troubleshooting the kiosks would require, at this point, 3 sections to address each of the iterations of Windows 11 we have. Then consider that none of the volunteers who might need that information will not know which section applies to their issue.

Imagine a manager writing down how they do their job in such detail that a person off the street would be able to read that documentation and perform all the tasks the manager performed, and as well. While it might be possible to cover everything in enough detail you still have the problems that no one is going to read all of that, they will find some quicker way to resolve the issue. Also, IT documentation requires IT words and phrases to be meaningful. So that person off the street would have to have a strong IT background just to understand much of the documentation.

Consequently I have chosen to include a degree of detail, but assume that the reader has a significant background in IT and is able to research words, terms, concepts they are unfamiliar with.

The best use of this material is to go through all of it, explore the references, compare it to the actual system, and then use it as a reference. That way you will at least be aware of that the documentation basically covers. And then use it as a reference while keeping existing and new topics updated within reason.

This documentation, in fact NO documentation can answer many questions or provide information unless you are already familiar with the technology involved. A person with minimal technical knowledge and experience will not find this material very useful initially. To help address this, there are many references to YouTube videos and other resources intended to introduce a given technology. You cannot understand the answer unless you first understand the question.

Some effort is made to clarify and define the terms and phrases that are considered technical jargon or nomenclature. For instance, nomenclature is a subset of a language (English) that is used within a specific area of discipline (computer science in this case) to describe concepts (encapsulation, authentication, encryption, permissions), items (servers, hosts, 802.11), and processes (sniffing, decryption, scanning, pentesting, auditing) in a concise yet clear way.

This page was begun in early 2019, when I (Ben Bellamy) came on staff as the IT Director. Since then a bunch has happened and a bunch discovered that I think will help you understand how the CCCC network has progresses and why some things are the way they are.

When I first came on, there had been a company providing 'Computer Services' for a number of years. They sold the church most of the equipment that was in place when I arrived, configured it, and did all of the 'administration' including things like backups and updates.

The services they provided could have been better, and there was no documentation of any sort. Enough said.

I came in with a list of things to get a handle on, document, verify and so on. I expected to take a couple of months to learn what we really had, what condition it was in, and what was lacking.

It took over a month from when I started until this company finally gave me the administrative credentials to all of our systems. Until then no one in the church had them. Servers, printers, firewall, DHCP, Gateway, switches, WiFi access points, ... All of it. Both hardware and applications.

And about the time I received the credential COVID-19 hit and things were shut down. In our case, that meant a frantic effort to expand and stabilized our streaming capabilities. Facebook and YouTube live streaming, RightNow Media, and video conferencing. I had to juggle these urgent requirement with discovering what constituted our network, how it was used, while also trying to address the issues I considered important and urgent along with adhoc requests/mandates.

As we adapted to the limitations that COVID-19 placed on us, I was able to make headway on documenting things, specifically what was in place and how it was configured. I as also able to hard wire the TVs on the 3rd floor (for RightNow Media), and in the basement. Even so, it would be about 6 months before I had a handle on the basic infrastructure. Hardware was 'hidden'. Credentials were unknown. Nothing at all was documented. The staff at the time had not be informed about what the infrastructure was composed of, how it was configured, how it operated. Nothing.

But as was to be expected, there continued to be a steady flow of requests for things people considered urgent or that had deadlines in place. Up to this point (and moving forward I expect) about 80% of my time (16 hours per week total) is spent on fixing or implementing things that others consider critical. No problem, that is the job. Always has been, everywhere. That leaves little time for things I consider urgent such as; anti-malware protection, a stronger firewall implementation, remote access, client backups, expanding the WiFi and wired network infrastructure...At the time of this writing, not much has changed.

On the start page (the page that led you here), there are links to other local web pages that address specific components and processes.

There is overview and detailed documentation about our systems and their management. There are interactive tools for managing most of the components of our network. There are references to background information and so on.

Probably, the best approach is to click on each of the links on the start page (startpage.html) and click through each of the titles. Read each page with the purpose of general familiarity and a sense of what information is presented.

Note!

The majority of information in this collection has been created by CCCC staff and is unique to the CCCC network. However, several portions of examples and explanations along with images are from files on the Internet. This collection is intended for in-house support purposes and is not to be shared or transmitted other than authorized CCCC staff and those approved by management.

Background

As with most organizational data networks, it has been build over time by many different people, but with very little cohesiveness or maintenance. In order for any digital network to remain stable, deliver on the expectations of the organization, be extensible both in size and variety, the entire environment must be managed from a single point (person or group) according to best practices and in keeping with the mission statement and vision of the organization. Best practices must be put in place and followed for operations, experimentation, and evolution.

This page assumes that the reader is familiar with computer networking and related technologies. In some cases definitions are provided, but for the most part if you do not understand a word, acronym, or phrase you should stop, research the item until you have an understanding and then come back to this material. Programming is not usually involved, but a conceptual understanding of the structure and components along with their configuration and administration is most important.

At this time the CCCC data network is moving into the next level of maturity. Specifically, a part-time position was established for an IT Director. In order to bring the network to its potential, several phases are expected to be worked through.

First, discovery where all of the components (infrastructure devices) are identified and inventoried. Initially, this is done using a RDBMS (Database), MySQL.

Next is stabilization. Here all of the discovered components are updated as needed (software, firmware), or replaced/re-purposed as needed. Processes, such as backups will be reviewed for effectiveness, appropriateness, and ROI. Changes and improvements are made as needed.

Then comes the operations phase. Here while the network has remained in production mode with all ongoing maintenance in place and being performed. At the same time, ad hoc projects, problems need to be addressed.

Finally, we enter the experimentation/expansion phase. Here new technologies and new uses of existing technology are explored and implemented as appropriate. Operations continues, but time is now available to take advantage of the value that technology can bring to the organization and its mission.

That is how it should work. But due to COVID-19, the age of many core devices, the learning curve and entirely different (reactive) approach was required..

One of the core purposes of organizing the information that can be gathered to enable the church to continue proper management and operations of the network in the case that those with institutional knowledge and specialized skills necessary to continue the operation of the the network which performs several tasks critical to the church in case IT support is unavailable.

Before you jump into the details of this documentation, there are several areas of technology, and several skills you will need if you are going to make sense of this material or be able to 'safely' manage the CCCC network.

Areas of Familiarity:

Skills

Tools

Priorities

There you have it.

This is important work. This is significant. Not the number of views, or people in the seats, likes and so on. This is work done to glorify and serve God. This is a mission, and nothing less.

Say a prayer, take a breath, and enjoy this time, the people, and the tasks!